Part 1: Tribe Identity
The beginning of this design-make project allowed us to group into smaller “tribes” and create an identity based on our own habits, rituals, clothing and anything interesting really. I paired myself with Rebecca, and we were both grouped with Farhanah and Sam, as well as Sarah and Millie. Together, we called our tribe (an all female group) Wanawake, which means “women” in Swahili - one of our prominent precedents.
Our tribe looked at multiple other traditional tribes that are led by women or is a matrilineal society run under a matriarchal system. Groups such as the Mosuo women of China (second photo, top right-hand corner) where women celebrated sexual freedom by practising tisese or “Walking Marriages” and created major decision within the household as well as heading it. The Umoja women of Swahili is an all-female matriarch village. Founded by Rebecca Lolosoli, the village serves as a sanctuary for homeless survivors of violence against women - oppressed by forced/arranged marriages. We also looked at contemporary groups such the the Pink Ladies from the film Grease who have individuality and strong sense of characters as a group.
With these tribes and groups to gather inspiration from, our tribe, The Wanawake, can aim to design around the context of women and what it means to be one today in our modern society. We strive not only to design within the ideas of spatial context, but to reflect our identity collectively as a tribe.